The Frame Survival Model of Conscious Continuity: A Theoretical Framework for Subjective Experience in a Branching Universe

The persistence of ordered experience in a quantum-branching universe raises fundamental questions about how continuity is maintained across multiple possible outcomes. The Frame Survival Model (FSM) is a theoretical framework grounded in quantum decoherence, applicable to any system—biological or artificial—capable of sustaining integrated, survival-compatible states. FSM models reality as a sequence of discrete “Hyperframes”—complete matter–energy configurations defined by quantum decoherence events. At each transition, a system either proceeds along a survival-compatible path or terminates its trajectory within that branch. When applied to consciousness, FSM formalizes subjective continuity as “threading” through a network of compatible Hyperframes, yielding an observer-relative path through the multiverse. The same formalism extends to other coherent, path-dependent processes, making FSM relevant to physics, information science, and the life sciences. By providing operational definitions for survival filtering, informational coherence, and frame-to-frame stability, FSM unifies continuity across domains and resolves longstanding paradoxes—including subjective death, quantum immortality, and identity persistence—without invoking new physics. It further suggests experimentally approachable implications, such as modulation of perceived time by changes in decoherence rates, positioning FSM as both a general continuity principle and a testable framework for applied fields such as cognitive neuroscience.